William Drummond, of Hawthornden

1585–1649 · 1 work on Laurel, 146 lines, all free to read

A portrait of William Drummond, of Hawthornden

William Drummond (13 December 1585 – 4 December 1649), called "of Hawthornden", was a Scottish poet.

Drummond was born at Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian, to John Drummond, the first laird of Hawthornden, and Susannah Fowler, sister of the poet and courtier William Fowler and daughter of Janet Fockart. Sir Robert Drummond of Carnock, one-time Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland, was his grandfather.

Drummond received his early education at the Royal High School of Edinburgh, and graduated in July 1605 as an M.A. of the recently founded University of Edinburgh. His father was a gentleman usher at the English court (as he had been at the Scottish court from 1590) and William, at court in 1606, describes festivities planned at Greenwich Palace in connection with the visit of King Christian IV of Denmark. Drummond spent two years at Bourges and Paris in the study of law; and, in 1609, he was again in Scotland, where, by the death of his father in the following year, he became laird of Hawthornden at the early age of 24.

Biography adapted from the Wikipedia article “William Drummond of Hawthornden”, CC BY-SA. Read it there.

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